Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

UK priorities and objectives for 2020 annual fisheries negotiations

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Farming, Fisheries and Food) (Victoria Prentis) has today made the following statement.The UK is now entering into a period of annual fisheries negotiations to agree fishing opportunities and access to waters for the 2021 fishing year. We will be doing that as an independent coastal state for the first time in over 40 years. It is an important milestone as we leave the Common Fisheries Policy, and one which warrants this update to the House.Our aim across all annual fisheries negotiations will be to work closely with our counterparts in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments to secure the best outcomes for the whole of the UK fishing industry and for our marine environment.We will be participating in a range of annual fisheries negotiations. The UK will be taking its seat at the coastal states negotiations for key pelagic species; participating in multilateral organisations like the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), which we have already joined along with the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and conducting our own bilateral negotiations to set 2021 opportunities and agree access to waters for next year with partners like Norway, the Faroe Islands, and the EU.With Norway and the Faroe Islands, we have already agreed new fisheries frameworks to underpin bilateral negotiations and the former has already been signed and laid before the House. We are seeking to negotiate a fisheries framework agreement with the EU. This is proving a difficult negotiation and the UK and EU positions are very far apart, principally because the EU has not yet accepted the implications of our future status as an independent coastal state. Negotiations are continuing and updates will be shared with the House as available.In all fisheries negotiations we will ensure that our actions are founded on the best available scientific advice. We will aim to deliver sustainability improvements—safeguarding our natural marine assets for future generations. Our landmark Fisheries Bill enshrines in legislation the Government’s commitment to sustainable fishing, and it is right that we make this a cornerstone of our negotiating positions.Through the negotiations we will look to support our vital UK fishing industry, not only through securing additional quotas but also by continuing to support the elimination of illegal and harmful discarding. Again, our UK-wide approach will ensure we consider the needs of the fishing industries of all devolved nations, and the Crown Dependencies, in negotiations.Finally, and underpinning all our negotiations, we will be seeking to maximise the benefits of our new status as an independent coastal State. We will decide who can access UK waters to fish and on what terms; and we will negotiate access for UK fleets to fish in other countries’ waters on terms that suit us. Through friendly cooperation as sovereign equals, we will improve management of shared fish stocks with benefits for the wider marine environment and the long-term future of the UK fishing industry.

CONTINGENCIES FUND ADVANCE

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: My Right Hon Friend the Secretary of State (George Eustice) has today made the following statement.Defra has sought a repayable cash advance from the Contingencies Fund of £536,000. The requirement has arisen because there is an urgent requirement to proceed with setting up the Office for Environmental Protection in advance of Royal Assent of the Environment Bill. Under Managing Public Money rules, expenditure to make preparation for the delivery of a new service prior to Royal Assent requires an advance from the Contingencies Fund. The cash advance will pay for essential set up expenditure for IT, corporate services, estates, finance, recruitment and other HR costs that are needed for establishing for the Office of Environmental Protection. The need to spend now in advance of Royal Assent is driven by the necessary timelines associated with recruitment, procurement and set up which are expected to take several months. This will ensure that the Office for Environmental Protection can be brought into operation and begin exercising its statutory functions as soon as practical after Royal Assent of the Environment Bill.Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £536,000 for this new service will be sought in an Estimate for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £536,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. This contingencies fund advance is in addition to the £215,000 notified to Parliament on 21 July 2020 to cover essential spend including public appointments and minimal staff recruitment.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Extension of decision deadline on Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station

Lord Callanan: My Rt hon Friend, the Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Kwasi Kwarteng) made the following statement on Friday: This statement concerns an application made by Horizon Nuclear Power Limited under the Planning Act 2008 for development consent for the construction and operation of a new nuclear power station and associated infrastructure at Wylfa Head on the Isle of Anglesey. Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make a decision on an application within three months of receipt of the Examining Authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) to set a new deadline. Where a new deadline is set, the Secretary of State must make a Statement to Parliament to announce it. The Secretary of State had previously reset the deadline for the application for the Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Power Station to 30 September 2020. Following the announcement that its ultimate parent company, Hitachi Ltd., was ending business operations in respect of the Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Power Station, Horizon Nuclear Power Wylfa Limited wrote to the Secretary of State requesting that he reset the deadline for his decision on the application until 31 December 2020 so that it could ascertain its options for the project. The Secretary of State has agreed to that request and has therefore set a new deadline for deciding the application of 31 December 2020. The decision to set the new deadline for the application is without prejudice to the Secretary of State’s decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent.

Department for International Trade

Signing of the UK-Japan Free Trade Agreement

Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade (Liz Truss MP) has made the following statement.On Friday 23rd October Japan’s Foreign Minister?Motegi?Toshimitsu and I are signing the UK-Japan Partnership Agreement in Tokyo. This is the first trade deal that the UK has struck as an independent trading nation.This British shaped deal goes beyond the existing EU agreement with major wins for all parts of the UK in areas such as digital and data, financial services, food and drink and creative industries. This deal could boost trade between the UK and Japan by £15.7 billion and drive economic growth in the long run.The agreement also includes a strong commitment from Japan to support the UK joining the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) meaning closer ties with 11 Pacific countries in one of the world’s biggest free trade areas, covering 13% of the global economy in 2018 and more than £110bn of trade in 2019.The Government is committed to transparency and the effective scrutiny of our trade negotiations. Following my Written Ministerial Statement of 12 October, I can announce that at the earliest possible opportunity today the Department for International Trade and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office will be formally presenting the signed treaty text and related documents electronically to Parliament. They will subsequently be published on GOV.UK.The documents being laid in Parliament today are the UK-Japan Partnership Agreement treaty text, Explanatory Memorandum and Parliamentary Report, which provides an explanation of the Partnership Agreement, including any significant differences or enhancements from the EU-Japan Agreement. An independently verified impact assessment of the UK-Japan Partnership Agreement, will also be deposited in the House Library.While the Government is formally laying the treaty text electronically in Parliament today, the Constitutional Reform and Governance (CRaG) Act scrutiny procedure will not commence until 2 November, when the House of Commons returns from recess. Laying today ahead of the commencement of CRaG ensures that the House has the maximum amount of time to scrutinise the detail of the UK-Japan Partnership Agreement.